On the instant there would have been deadly work, had not Moreton interfered.
"Here! what does this mean?" he exclaimed in a loud, authoritative way, stepping boldly into the midst of the men.
His commanding figure, cool bearing and patrician dress wrought an effect of which the sturdiest policeman might well have been proud. "Come with me, Mr. White," he continued, "and you fellows had better get to your homes in quick time."
He did not pause or hesitate, but took White by the arm with a strong grip and led him away. No doubt the very suddenness and boldness of Moreton's action had much to do with the success of his endeavor to befriend White, but it is quite probable that the respect for superior manners, dress and personal appearance, which underlies the gross democracy of the mob, did more. White himself would have resented, with all a mountaineer's well-fostered stubbornness, any man's interference with his luxury of a fight, had that man been, though his best friend, one of his own or a similar class. But he promptly recognized Moreton as both his friend and superior and so allowed himself to be hurried away, the young man's grip on his arm reminding him of a physical force fully proportioned to Moreton's rather massive stature. They soon reached a street where no further danger need be feared, and here Moreton, releasing White's arm, said:
"What sort of a beastly trouble is this you have been getting into? What was all that quarrel about?"
"Pa'cel o' them air dad burned gam'lers a rowin' wi' me," replied White, rather doggedly, closing his knife and putting it into his pocket.
"Fleeced you, I suppose; won all your money. Better let them alone, they'll always beat you," said Moreton, his voice very naturally taking on an advisory and cautionary ring.
"Yer calc'late ruther short, jest ther', Mr. Moreting (b'lieve thet air's yer name), fur I hev four dollars uf them same fellers' good money inter my jeens right now," White answered, with a chuckle of profound satisfaction. "Wen ye serpose 'at any uf them air gam'lers ken beat me a playin' uf seving up, w'y then ye air a foolin' yerself outdacious. Es fur them tother games, I don't know much 'bout 'em, but seving up hit air my game, jest to a dot, an' I do s'prise some uf 'em outdacious a playin' uf that air small game."
"Are you going out to your home to-night?" inquired Moreton.
"Yes, an' I s'pect 'at them air weemin'll be outdacious oneasy 'bout me, too, fur I promersed 'em 'at I'd be back by dinner time o' day, when I left 'em this mornin'," said White, rather dolefully.